


During the Stag Do

by ladyroxanne21



Series: Punish Me [7]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: M/M, Sometimes I suck at tagging sigh
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-14
Updated: 2017-01-14
Packaged: 2018-09-17 10:25:09
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,509
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9319520
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ladyroxanne21/pseuds/ladyroxanne21
Summary: Harry gets blind drunk and has a revelation.





	

The morning before Harry's stag do – and thus the day before his wedding – Harry went with Lily to the Manor to see the three dresses she had narrowed her choices to. She wanted him to give his opinion on which would be the right one for her to wear at his wedding, but he wasn't really a fashion expert, so he wasn't optimistic that he'd be of any help.

He sat at a table drinking tea as she changed into and modeled each of the three dresses. Then he told her quite honestly how beautiful she looked in each of them. Lily eventually rolled her eyes and sighed.

“You're not any help at all!” Lily grumbled unhappily.

“I told you I don't know anything about fashion!” Harry protested. “You would have been better off asking Jeremiah. As far as I am concerned, you look gorgeous in all of them. The only thing I can really say is that Jeremiah set the color scheme as blue, and so the second one might match us just a little.” This was a reference to the fact that the second dress she had tried on was a purple dress with blue accents rather than a red dress with golden accents like the third one or a white dress with gold accents like the first one.

Lily bit her lip in thought. “That... actually helps...” She then disappeared into her closet and brought out a completely different dress. “I wasn't going to wear this one because it's... Well, it makes me look older and a bit, I don't know, sexier maybe, than I actually am. But it's a gorgeous dress and it's blue and I really love it.”

She put the dress on to show it to her father and Harry smiled at her. Yes, it did make her look more overtly feminine than a ten year old really needed to look, but it didn't actually show any skin. In fact, the reason it made her look older and somewhat sexy was that it was a very elegant dress that a movie star might wear to a premier. It was sleek and shimmering and actually something Harry could see his daughter absolutely  _loving_ . Besides, she practically lived in leotards that hugged her every developing curve anyway, so it's not like this dress was showing off anything that her normal costumes didn't already show.

Harry looked to the ceiling and slowly ran a hand through his perpetually messy black hair.  _Sometimes I wish I had a son rather than a daughter, then I wouldn't have to worry so much about the relative sexiness of her fashion choices..._

“It's gorgeous,” Harry assured her with another smile.

Feeling a strange sense of relief, Lily hugged her father. “I'm going to change out of this, and then I'm going to go talk to Scorpius for a few minutes – he hasn't quite decided whether or not he'd like to attend your wedding so that I definitely have someone to dance with, although grandma says she'll be delighted to come – anyway, after I talk to Scorpius, then we can go to the Burrow for that big family lunch Grandma Molly is making.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Harry stated. Then he held up his cup of tea. “I'll just be here, keeping Muffy busy.”

Lily giggled. “I'll try to remember to  _not_ tell Kreacher that you're cheating on him!”

Harry chuckled even as he rolled his eyes.

A few minutes after Lily left to go talk to her brother, Draco Apparated into the room, his attention focused on the flowers in his hands. “Lily, do you think you'll want to wear a flower in your hair or on your wrist, and in pink or –” He stopped short with an inhaled gasp as he realized that he was alone with Harry. “Sorry, I...” He shook his head, not one to apologize to anyone for any reason.

Harry took a deep breath to combat the urge to hurl himself at Draco and beat the living daylights out of him. When he felt as calm as he was going to get, he muttered a surprisingly civil: “Draco.”

Draco also took a very deep breath, and then gestured to the tea set on the table. “Do you mind if I join you?”

Harry shrugged. “It's your house. What's that you have in your hands?”

“I was bringing Lily a few different flowers to choose from – to wear to your wedding tomorrow,” Draco explained, setting the nine perfect blossoms on the table.

“That's... surprisingly... _nice_ , er...” Harry trailed off awkwardly. Nice wasn't the right word – he knew Draco could be nice, especially to Lily and Scorpius – but he couldn't think of a different word that fit.

Draco merely shrugged. “Well, she's positively beside herself with excitement over your wedding and I like seeing her happy. I'll always do anything I can to make her smile.”

Draco bit his lip and focused on his hands in his lap. “I don't want to make you angry again – or angrier since I'm pretty sure you're still ready to hex me to bits – but I just have to say this. If you hex me, then so be it.”

Harry sat up a bit straighter to glare at Draco, ready to tell him to not bother saying anything at all because Harry didn't want to hear it, but Draco pressed on before Harry could get a word in edgewise.

“I'll divorce Astoria,” Draco blurted out. “We're not truly together anyway, so it won't be a huge change for us. She would – er, well, what I'm trying to say is that I'll divorce her and then do whatever it takes to prove to you that I've changed. That I've grown up and am ready to put you first – the way I _should_ have all along.”

“Draco!” Harry cut him off when it seemed like Draco was going to babble on and on about how different it would be this time. “I am _marrying_ Jeremiah tomorrow!”

Draco clenched his hands into fists and closed his eyes to hide the fact that it was a struggle to control his emotions. “Please don't,” he whispered.

Harry yanked on his hair with both hands, utterly frustrated by the situation and not sure how to make it clear to Draco that he'd ruined his chances a long time ago. Thankfully, he was saved a moment later by Lily. She entered the room and saw the two of them  _not_ fighting, but clearly not at ease with each other either.

“Er... I think it's time we left, daddy.”

“Yes!” Harry practically shouted in agreement. He held out his hand to her.

Lily looked to her other father for a moment. “I'll be back later, when Daddy goes to his bachelor party.”

“Stag do,” Harry corrected her. Lily gave him a look that made it clear that she didn't care if she was technically born in Britain, she'd been raised in America.

“Alright,” Draco murmured, letting Lily know that she was welcome to come over any time she wanted. Feeling like she should reward the two of them for behaving, but not actually sure how to do so, Lily simply hugged Draco and kissed him on the cheek – the first time she'd kissed him, which was something he coveted because she kissed Harry all the time.

Without another word, Lily slipped her hand in Harry's, who responded by Disapparating.

 

***

 

Harry was still so upset by the time he and Jeremiah arrived at the Leaky for their stag do – only Jeremiah's best friend had managed to travel to England, so it didn't make sense to have separate parties – that Harry steadily downed drink after drink in an attempt to get in a better mood. Although everyone just thought he was celebrating his impending marriage. Not even Jeremiah realized that Harry was seething inside, although he suspected something was off. Harry had been a bit  _too_ determinedly cheerful all day.

The party was a blast. Ron and Neville had teamed up to make it unforgettable. There were strippers and party games and a slew of appropriately inappropriate jokes. Harry and Jeremiah were asked to judge a kissing contest – that Seamus won and Ron refused to even participate in.

Somewhere around three hours in, Harry was so drunk that he was having a hard time seeing straight. He wobbled and swayed as he made his way to the loo. He was in high spirits by this point, the alcohol making him feel like he was in love with everyone in the world.

As he washed his hands – which was made slightly hard to do by the fact that Harry couldn't stand up straight and kept stumbling around the sink – Harry looked into the mirror and... One of the lights glinted in a way that was mesmerizing. He stared at the flickering light in fascination, wondering what made it so wonderful. It seemed soft and gray.

Gray like Draco's eyes. Warm and tender and full of mirth. Eyes that had nearly enslaved Harry in just the few short months that they had lived together. Eyes that Harry had never truly gotten over.

Did anyone else notice that Jeremiah had golden hair and icy blue eyes? If his hair was only two or three shades lighter and his eyes, _well_... Merlin, Godric, and Dumbledore! Why hadn't he realized that sooner?!

The realization that Harry had probably been initially attracted to Jeremiah because he looked a bit like Draco was enough to anger Harry all over again. Suddenly growling, he abruptly Apparated to Malfoy Manor – appearing directly in front of Draco, who was sitting in a plush chair all alone in his study. He held a mostly empty bottle of firewhiskey in his right hand.

“Was yer problem?” Draco slurred, glaring at the glare he was receiving from Harry.

“Yer too pretty!” Harry cried out, stumbling slightly to the side.

“I am?” Draco asked with interest, dropping the bottle on the floor. 

“Yes!” Harry roared as he pulled on his hair. “Yer hair's too blond an' yer eyes're too gray!”

Draco stood up, wobbling a bit in an attempt to gain his balance. “Yeah? Well yer too pretty too!” He sneered as if he'd just imparted a witty insult. “Eyes too green and scar too lightning bolty!”

Harry felt strangely affronted and had a dire need to out insult Draco. “Yeah? Well yer lips 're too plump and kiss'ble!”

“Yer arse is the best thing I've ever felt!” Draco shouted, throwing his hands out like this was the worst thing imaginable. The action ruined his dubious balance and he stumbled forward.

Harry stumbled forward enough to catch Draco before he fell to the ground. “Yer such a gorgeous bastard, why can'tcha be ugly like a toad – like Umbridge?”

“We should feed _her_ to Sunshine!” Draco suggested with a giggle.

“We should!” Harry agreed with a grin. “You transf'g'r 'er and I'll tell Sunshine to eat 'er up!”

“After we shag,” Draco stated, as if both possibilities were already inevitable.

“Yeah,” Harry agreed softly just before they sealed their mouths together. Draco leaned forward just enough to make them both tumble onto a large and plump couch. He was startled a moment later when all their clothes simply evaporated, but the warm sensation that accompanied it could only be Harry's magic, so he relaxed and took advantage of their nudity. His hands and mouth were suddenly all over Harry's body.

For the first time in a very long time, Draco took the time to manually prepare Harry – using his hands and tongue rather than his wand and an array of spells. He reduced Harry to a quivering mass of nerves long before he was ready to move on. It didn't take Harry too long to start begging.

“Please Draco! I wan' you insi'e me! I _need_ you!”

“Not yet,” Draco denied. “Not done lickin' yer glorious arse.”

“Please! You've no idear how badly I nee' you,” Harry pleaded. 

Draco groaned in longing as those words made his insides twist up. He shifted until he was on top of Harry. “You... only you... always you...”

“You,” Harry agreed, more than happy that their mouths were in range to snog again. It was hot and sloppy enough to distract them both for a long time, but then Harry squirmed and turned his head to the side.

“Now.”

Draco rested his head on Harry's shoulder as he used one hand to oil up his shaft and line it up with Harry's hole.

“Now,” Harry repeated, licking along the outer curve of Draco's ear.

Draco felt a powerful shiver run through him and had to take a deep breath to stop himself from orgasming right then and there. Then he pushed into Harry, making them both purr happily. They resumed their kissing, thrusting into each other slowly but erratically in their still very much drunken state.

“I missed you,” Draco whispered. 

Harry frowned and wiggled his hips experimentally. “No... y'got me.”

Draco chuckled and gave Harry a possessive kiss. “No, I mean I  _missed_ you. I thought about you all the time, always wondering where you were and what you were doing.” As his mostly clear speech suggested, he wasn't quite as drunk anymore. Still not exactly sober, but not so drunk that he was slurring.

Harry was still in that stupid drunk stage, so he didn't quite understand what Draco was saying. “What d'ya mean, whattam _I_ doin'? I'm shagging...”

“Yes, yes you are,” Draco agreed, thrusting extra powerfully to illustrate the point.

They were quiet aside from grunts and moans of pleasure for a long time. They kissed like they were searching for the meaning of life in each other's mouth. Eventually, the end was nearing. Draco gasped and broke free from the kiss to rest his head on Harry's shoulder again.

“So good!” Draco praised. “There was never anyone as good as you.”

“No one knows what I like like you,” Harry stated in a way that sounded almost sober – although he wasn't.

“You want me to...” Draco trailed off and grabbed his wand, which he then aimed at Harry and cast a stinging hex.

Harry arched his back and gasped out: “Yes!”

Draco only had to cast the stinging hex twice more before Harry was squealing and clinging to Draco, digging his fingers into Draco's arms as he pumped out several hot stripes between them. Draco groaned and surrendered to the need to fill Harry up. They both felt rather boneless a moment later, and melted together into a puddle on the couch.

Harry was already in a state that was halfway between asleep and awake; halfway between drunk and sober. He nearly purred in happiness from his spectacular orgasm. Stroking Draco's back, he asked something he had longed to ask for years.

“Why didn't you even read my owls?”

“Because I was afraid that with how much I loved you, I'd go running back to you and you'd keep asking me to beat you up and hurt you until I accidentally killed you,” Draco admitted, far too lethargic and sated to respond with anything that required more thought than the truth.

Harry shook his head, his face scrunched up in confusion even as his eyes were closed from his near sleep. “You didn't love me, I loved you. You were just playing with me.”

Draco shook his head and shifted so that he was peering at Harry's surprisingly peaceful face. Harry managed to crack an eye open to look at him in return. “That's not true. I was utterly besotted and thought that  _you_ were just using me to make yourself feel better.”

Harry was still confused. “Besotted...? Doesn't that mean drunk? I think we're  _both_ fairly pissed at the moment...”

Draco chuckled and shook his head. “And you wonder why I'm amazed whenever you manage to correctly use big words.”

Harry snorted and would have rolled his eyes if he could open them enough to do so. “Here's a big word for you:  _shutupandgotosleep_ !”

Draco snickered and snuggled into Harry even more. They had some of the best sleep of their lives for about six hours or so before they were abruptly yanked out of their slumber.

“Harry, where are you, mate?” A Jack Russell Terrier asked in Ron's voice. “Jeremiah woke up to go to the loo and realized that you haven't come home yet. He's freaking out, afraid you've been kidnapped or died somehow.”

“Fuck!” Harry exhaled in shame as he realized that he was under the radiant warmth of Draco instead of the man he was supposed to be marrying in just a few hours. He now felt like the lowest bastard who ever lived for having cheated on someone as wonderful as Jeremiah was. 

“Harry,” Draco murmured in sympathy, knowing that Harry was likely feeling pretty bad at the moment.

Harry purposely didn't look at Draco, instead summoning his wand so that he could cast a Patronus. “Tell Ron: I'll be there in a minute.”

But rather than immediately get up and rush away, Harry lay there with an arm over his face. He didn't push Draco away, but neither did he react when Draco stroked his arm soothingly. In his mind, he was going over everything they had said to each other while utterly drunk.

“Did you mean any of that?” Harry finally asked.

“All of it,” Draco confessed in a whisper, suddenly feeling far too vulnerable. He shifted so that he was sitting on the floor next to the couch.

“And your repeated attempts to stop me from marrying Jeremiah... They're not just you wanting me to be alone and miserable?” Harry questioned.

“No... I want another chance to be with you – like I _should_ have been all these years. I had hoped that with us sharing Lily like we have been these past few months, we'd eventually prove to each other that we've grown up. That we're better people than we were. And hopefully work out some sort of relationship. But then... _Jeremiah_ showed up...” Draco trailed off, and even though he had _tried_ to say the man's name without malice, perhaps a hint had bled through.

Harry sighed in something that wasn't quite frustration, but not acceptance or defeat either. It was an undefinable emotion. “Draco... When we're together, we do nothing but bicker and fight. We might have incredible passion, but I really don't think we have what it takes to make a relationship work. I think that Jeremiah is right when he says that you're not good for me.”

Draco buried his head in his arms around his knees. “So you're still going to marry him.”

“I suppose that depends on how he reacts,” Harry replied, feeling emotionally heavy. “But at this moment, I feel like such a bloody bastard that – and try not to take this the wrong way, although I'm not sure there is a _right_ way to take this, but... Well, I feel like I _deserve_ you rather than someone pure like him.”

Draco looked over at Harry to give him a light glare. “Yeah, I'm not sure there's a right way to take that either.” He then called for a house elf to bring a bathrobe so Harry had something to wear when he went home.

“Thanks...” Harry murmured as he slipped into the robe, made sure he had his wand, and then Apparated home.

“Harry!” Jeremiah exclaimed in relief, throwing his arms around Harry and hugging him tight.

Harry frowned and pushed Jeremiah away. Ron and Hermione exchanged a significant look and Hermione silently decided to put a kettle on. The three of them had been waiting for Harry in the kitchen.

“What's wrong?” Jeremiah asked with a concerned frown.

“How can you ask that?” Harry blurted out incredulously. He felt it had to be obvious by his state of undress after disappearing from the stag do what had happened.

Jeremiah gave him a look that Harry interpreted as meaning:  _I'm not an idiot, I know what you did._ He sighed and actually said it out loud. “Harry... it was pretty obvious when you disappeared from the pub last night that you'd – how do you Brits say it? Pulled? We call it hooking up in America. Anyway, I just figured it was exactly what bachelor parties are meant for; hooking up with someone to get in one last fling before getting married. I think the term is 'sowing your wild oats,' but now that I think about it, I have to wonder how that term came about – which is not actually important. What  _is_ important is that I wasn't upset or worried until I realized that you hadn't come home right afterwards. That's when I had to wonder if you'd actually been abducted or something.”

Harry was staring at Jeremiah as if he had just stated that he had seen one of Luna's wrackspurts and thought it quite charming. “Alright, first of all, I'm having trouble wrapping my head around the fact that you'd assumed I'd pulled and you weren't upset about it.”

Jeremiah shrugged. “Maybe not  _entirely_ not upset, but not so much that I couldn't accept it and let it go.”

Harry frowned because he wasn't sure he liked the fact that Jeremiah didn't feel betrayed. Jeremiah correctly interpreted Harry's expression and flung his right hand out in mild disbelief.

“Harry, you were the one who told me not too long ago that you are a cheater, and I told you that I'd still rather be with you and happy most of the time than not be with you and miserable _all_ of the time.”

Harry growled softly in frustration. “I  _said_ that I always seem to end up cheating with Draco. I didn't pull some random bloke from a bar last night, and  _that's_ why I'm so upset!”

Ron and Hermione were both giving Harry looks that clearly announced that he was an idiot as Hermione poured water into three mugs to steep the waiting tea. First, they hadn't looked like they believed Jeremiah when he said that Harry claimed to be a cheater. They hadn't actually quite believed that Harry had pulled either, figuring that he had simply Apparated somewhere and passed out. Now that Harry had confessed – and basically told them that this had already happened before – they were wondering if they should have him committed to St. Mungo's.

Meanwhile, Jeremiah was frowning in concern. He had a hand on Harry's arm. “Did you go do the duel, brawl, sex thing again? You don't look all beat up so you must have healed yourself before coming home.”

“You say that like it's a regular occurrence!” Ron blurted out.

Jeremiah shrugged. “So far, it was just once – that I know of – but I was in the room when the two of them were otherwise alone at one point, and... Have you ever seen something that looks like electricity flow between two people? It's like a heat, an  _intensity_ that can't quite be described.”

“Er...” Both Ron and Hermione droned hesitantly and exchanged a glance because they knew what he was talking about. They'd seen the same thing between Harry and Draco on more than one occasion.

Jeremiah took this as confirmation and nodded his head. “It's like a primal urge to dominate and own and  _fuck_ each other that just overwhelms them both. I have been more or less with Harry for four years now – in a casual way, I know – but in all that time, I've never seen Harry as anything other than a mild mannered and mostly content man. I didn't think there was a way to piss him off, but then I saw him with Draco and I was reminded of my ex-wife. Draco pushes all his buttons like she pushed mine. Which means that there's two Harrys; mine, and the one that Draco turns him into.”

Jeremiah took hold of Harry's hand and held it firmly as he stared into Harry's eyes. “You and I can and will make each other happy. We'll have a good marriage full of love and laughter. Draco can't give you that. All he would do is piss you off and make you miserable – which would eventually affect Lily, who isn't stupid and knows that you two act like idiots when and only when you're around each other. If I have to accept that you occasionally have to go have a nasty fight followed by angry sex, then so be it. We all have our kinks. Mine's the rare woman, just so you know.”

Harry was amazed. So amazed that he was actually speechless. Once again, he had a strong feeling that he was too much of bastard to deserve this wonderful man. Eventually, he found his voice.

“But here's the thing,” he began with a heavy sigh. “I don't want to be that sort of man. I don't want to wake up knowing that I may or may not give into my need for Draco and cheat on my loving husband. I don't want you to be okay with it, and I don't want you to be hurt by _not_ being okay with it when it inevitably happens again.”

Jeremiah was clearly confused. “Well... What other choice is there?”

Harry took a deep breath. “Being with Draco.”

“That's a bad idea!” Jeremiah and Ron both fervently protested this while Hermione bit her lip in thought.

Harry held up his hands. “He said he would divorce his wife for me.  _If_ he actually does, then I think that I  _need_ to give him another chance. Not because he actually  _deserves_ another chance, but because I need to know if there's  _any_ way we could make a relationship work. Yes, he hurt me badly and it took me years to recover, but I still...” He took another deep breath. “I still love him. Why else do you think I went to him the moment I was too drunk to stop myself?”

Jeremiah had tears welling up in his eyes, but they didn't fall. “So... you choose him.”

Harry looked to the floor in shame. “I really wish that I loved you more. Enough to marry you and be happy like I know we would be. But from the day I nearly killed Draco, when I watched his blood flow out into the water all over the bathroom floor, I knew that if he lived, I'd do anything for him. I didn't quite realize at the time that I loved him, but I knew that the thought of losing him made me want to curl up and die.”

Jeremiah sighed heavily. “Well... if that's how you really feel, then... Then I guess that I'll go back to America.” He hugged Harry. “I hope that – despite all evidence to the contrary – you'll manage to find happiness with Draco.” He then huffed and looked up to the ceiling. “I now completely understand why almost everyone I've met here hates him. Sure, I thought he was an asshole, but I didn't hate him, but now...”

Harry chuckled while Ron patted Jeremiah on the back in consolation.

“Ferret face makes it so easy to hate him!” Ron exclaimed in commiseration. 

Harry decided to change the subject. “Let me break the news to Lily so that she can come home and say goodbye before you leave.”

“I'll write a note to owl to everyone letting them know that the wedding's off,” Hermione stated. “It's early enough that they should get it first thing, _before_ they start getting ready or showing up.”

“Good idea,” Harry murmured. He looked at the time and discovered that it was only going on five in the morning. “Er... I should probably actually wait an hour or two before going to Lily.”

Jeremiah nodded in agreement. “I'm going to pick a guest room and try to get a little more sleep.”

Harry simply nodded, knowing that Jeremiah probably needed a private place to cry. As for Harry, he needed to cook until he could think straight again. But first, a hangover potion was in order.

 

Epilogue

 

Lily sat looking at herself in the mirror, turning her face side to side before deciding that she needed to add a few more lines to her makeup. Once satisfied, she grinned at her reflection. She currently looked like she was an old fashioned french Queen, which was the part she was playing for her tonight's show.

“Happy birthday, Lily!” One of her cast mates called out as she stopped in the doorway to Lily's dressing room. “How old are you now?”

“Nineteen,” Lily answered with a smile.

“You probably wish that opening night wasn't on your birthday so that you could go out and celebrate, huh?”

Lily shrugged. “My dads are going to be in the audience tonight along with my brothers, so we're going out to celebrate after. There's really not much I'd rather be doing than this.”

“Dads huh? Oh! You know, I bet I saw them a few minutes ago as I was doing some promotional stuntwork out in the lobby. I noticed this boy who looked 14 or 15 and thought that he was a bit young to be bleaching his hair, but then I saw that he was with a man and a younger boy that also had nearly white hair. The weird thing was that the younger boy looked like he was twins with another boy with black hair.”

Lily grinned. “Yep, sounds like my family. I have blonde hair just like one of my dads and two of my brothers. The other brother has black hair like my other dad.”

“They can't really be twins though, right?” 

Lily smirked knowingly, but since this cast mate wasn't part of the magical community, a pseudo scientific answer was given. “Actually yes, but they're the result of an experimental procedure in which the genetic material was removed from donor eggs and replaced with the genetic material from one of my dads – you know, like they do in cloning – and then the eggs were fertilized with material from my other dad. The eggs were then implanted in a surrogate. It's rather a lot of work just to have a baby, don't you think? But my one dad – the one with the blond hair – he's wealthy and wanted to have babies with his husband, so he threw enough money at a scientist and now...” Lily trailed off with a shrug.

“That's brilliant! Hopefully that experimental technique will be approved for use soon because I know a couple of gay men who would _love_ to have babies with their partners!”

Lily smiled and nodded in agreement, even though she knew that her younger brothers were actually the result of magical fertility potions that she and Scorpius had decided to slip their dads about eight years ago now so that they'd have more siblings. The result was two pregnant wizards who were seriously upset with their kids for a good two months before the nausea faded and they decided that they loved the idea of having more kids.

Lily grinned at the memory. Draco had a fairly rough pregnancy and vowed to never go through that again, though Harry thought that his pregnancy was a piece of cake compared to when he'd had Lily. Harry had even suggested that he might be willing to carry more kids at some point, but Draco had put his foot down, insisting that four kids was more than plenty. That said, Lily suspected that if her father  _really_ wanted to carry more kids, Draco would give in. 

Ever since they got back together, the two of them have had a solid and loving relationship. Almost  _too_ loving at times! Lily and Scorpius had walked in on them more than once doing things that were best done in the privacy of their bedroom rather than the study or the front parlor or the back of the garden.

Her cast mate pulled her out of her reverie. “Now that I think about it, the teen looks a lot like you. Does he go to circus school? I bet if the two of you performed together, you'd practically double your fans!”

“No, he has his own interests,” Lily replied, not mentioning that Scorpius had plans to either become a potions master or the sexiest rock star who ever lived. One option pleased their papa to no end, but the other rather horrified him. “Although, _believe me_ , I tried to get him interested in performing with me.”

“What are you still in here for?!” The stage manager cried out. “The five minute warning was three minutes ago!”

“Oops!” Lily's cast mate exclaimed sheepishly. “I forgot to tell you...”

With a chuckle, Lily rushed to her place on the side of the stage. The opening act was an ensemble piece to showcase all their respective talents, except that Lily's costume made it hard for her to do much, so she was going to be singing while everyone else scooped her up and passed her around as if she was literally being snatched and brought to a different world where she didn't know anything. The show progressed with her “learning” different skills and her queenly dress was “spelled” into a gorgeous leotard.

The funny thing was that they used a special effect – a thick cloud of smoke – to represent the spell so Lily had a bit of privacy to pull off the dress and toss it to the side (her leotard was already underneath), but even though Lily  _could_ complete the super fast costume change the muggle way, she took advantage of the smoke to use an  _actual_ magic spell to make her dress intangible so that it fell off her in seconds, giving her plenty of time to toss it to the waiting stage hand she couldn't see but knew was there. Then she returned her wand to its holder on her arm where her cast mates could see it. However, she'd long since convinced them that it was her lucky stick, and since she'd refused to perform without it for  _years_ , they just shrugged it off as a charming quirk.

By the end of the show, Lily's character had really gotten into the spirit of things and was performing like the best of them. Once it became clear to the “spirit” that had abducted her that she'd learned her lesson, he unexpectedly returned her to her own world (which was accompanied by another large puff of smoke in which Lily had to change back into her dress). The moment Lily the queen looked around to find herself back in the french palace (the set had gone through an astonishingly quick change too), she was seized by an angry mob of peasants and executed.

The peasants then went on to sing about glorious revolution, doing basic tricks that a joyous crowd might actually do in such a situation. Meanwhile, Lily lay on stage as if dead. When the curtain came down, a cast mate reached his hand out to her and helped her up. He was the one playing the spirit and held her hand as the entire cast came together to bow to the audience.

After the curtain closed again, the entire cast piled into a large room – usually used for practice and conferences – to celebrate a successful opening night. They'd also given Lily a cake. Barely ten minutes passed in raucous cheering – and everyone giving Lily a kiss – before the owner of the Cirque du Soleil burst through the door.

“I have some people here who positively _insisted_ that I let them join in on the fun!” He announced, standing aside to let in a group comprising of Weasleys, Malfoys, and Potters.

“Daddy!” Lily cried out happily since she hadn't seen him in just over a month. She rushed to throw her arms around him and hug him tight. He returned her hug and kissed her on the cheek.

“You were brilliant, Lils!” Harry praised her.

“You always are,” Draco assured her, pulling her from Harry so that he could get a hug too. 

“Aww Papa,” Lily purred, and then gave him a kiss on the cheek. Hugs and kisses were passed around while someone – most likely the owner – “found” a couple bottles of champagne to go with the cake.

Suddenly, a younger cast mate came over and tugged on Lily's sleeve. Lily smiled at the approximately 14 year old girl. “Yes?”

“Two things. First, I really thought you bleached your hair, but now I realize that if you do, it _has_ to be a family pastime.” She pointed to Draco and Lucius, who were standing off to one side, talking with the owner. “And two, your brother is super cute! Do you think you could introduce us?”

Lily giggled. “Sure thing, but fair warning, I'm pretty sure he already has a girlfriend.”

“I can work with that,” the girl stated with a shrug and a sly expression.

Lily simply smirked and shook her head. “Hey Scorpius, come here a minute!”

Scorpius turned his attention from watching their younger brothers flirt shamelessly with the only boy in the cast that was their age. He walked over to Lily with an amused grin. “James and Al aren't even old enough to date and yet you'd think it was their goal in life!”

Lily gave him a kiss on the cheek and ruffled his perfectly styled hair.

“Hey!” Scorpius protested, subtly casting a charm to fix his hair.

Lily giggled. “This is Indira; she'd like to dance with you.”

“Oh?” Scorpius asked with interest. He _loved_ to dance. He held out his hand in invitation. Indira slipped her hand in his with a huge grin.

“Thanks Lily!”

About half an hour later, Draco and Harry caught up with Lily as she was grabbing another piece of cake. The two husbands held hands and Draco subtly leaned against Harry. Harry absently played with Draco's hair, which Lily knew that just about no one else on the planet was allowed to touch.

“Isn't Scorpius dating Pearl Parkinson?” Draco asked in confusion since Scorpius was currently in a corner with Indira snogging as if the girl's mouth contained a fabulous treasure and he needed to find it.

Harry chuckled. “As I understand it, Pearl demanded a break for the summer since her family is spending the hols in France – on the Riviera – and she wanted to be able to flirt without cheating.”

“Ah,” Draco stated in understanding. “Hence, our son is currently doing the same.”

Lily smiled at her fathers, glad to see that they still made each other so happy that it was nearly blinding. Even when they were across a crowded room, when they caught sight of each other, they lit up as if it was the first time they were seeing each other in days. When they had gotten back together, they'd made a pact to do whatever it took to keep the other happy, and it worked. Which was not to say that they never fought, but now all their fights seemed to be – Lily pulled a face of mild disgust – foreplay...

Harry was looking around the room rather idly. “You know, that 'spirit' was wearing so much makeup that it was hard to tell how old he was, but I'd  _swear_ that he looked like Jeremiah.”

Lily chuckled nervously and looked away. “Oh! Have you had cake yet? There's champagne floating around here somewhere.”

Harry gave Lily a look that made it clear that he wasn't stupid enough to be distracted so easily. “ _Lily_ ...” 

“Alright fine! So it _is_ Jeremiah,” she confessed. “He was offered a position in Cirque because – well actually, they've been after him for years. He's super talented, you know.”

“Yeah, I do,” Harry murmured somewhat fondly.

“Anyway, he finally accepted because he's got a little girl now and he wants to make sure he can afford it if she goes to college someday,” Lily explained.

“He does?” Harry asked in a soft tone that made it clear he was happy for Jeremiah. “I should go say hi and congratulate him.”

Draco frowned, unconsciously growling just a little at that. Harry kissed him on the temple.

“There's no need to be jealous, Draco,” Harry assured him.

Draco harrumphed but didn't say anything. Harry kissed Draco again, this time on the lips, and then walked over to where Jeremiah was talking to the stage manager. It sounded like they were trying to fine tune some of the bits on the set.

“I hear that congratulations are in order,” Harry stated when he arrived at Jeremiah's side.

Jeremiah went silent abruptly, took a deep breath, and then turned to face Harry. He plastered a smile on his face. “Harry... Thank you.”

The stage manager frowned curiously, wondering why a man who was always cheerful and outgoing suddenly looked closed off and almost upset. But then Jeremiah exhaled and gave Harry a real smile.

“She's two and her name is Penelope. Want to see a picture?”

Harry grinned and nodded. Jeremiah promptly pulled out his cellphone and opened an album titled Baby Girl. He stood next to Harry in a way that allowed them both to see the phone, then started swiping through the pictures.

“She's adorable!” Harry praised sincerely.

“Thanks!” Jeremiah accepted with a grin. Then he tilted his head toward the twins. “Yours are pretty cute too. One of them looks like a mini you.”

Harry chuckled. “I'm rather happy about that. If James had turned out looking like Draco too, I'd have felt like a foreigner in my own home!”

“I can imagine,” Jeremiah murmured with a tiny laugh. Then he pointed at Astoria – who was currently chiding James and Albus for climbing on some practice equipment without permission. “I see that Draco's wife is here too.”

Harry shook his head. “No, they're divorced.” He held up his hand to show off his wedding ring. “And we're married. Astoria is still Scorpius' mum though, and so a part of the family. She likes to think that she's an honorary mum to the twins too, and we don't mind. The twins even call her mum.”

“I'm glad things worked out for you,” Jeremiah informed Harry honestly.

“I'm glad for you too,” Harry replied with a warm smile.

On the other side of the room, Draco was still growling ever so softly. “Do they have to get along so well?”

Lily laughed. “Papa, Daddy  _loves_ you! There's no need to be jealous.”

Draco harrumphed at this just like he had when Harry had said it. Then he looked rather speculative. “Do you think Harry would have been happier married to  _him_ ?”

Lily sighed and slowly shook her head. “If you had asked me that back then, I would have fervently agreed, but now...” she shrugged. “Now I am old enough to look back with a subjective perspective. I think daddy would have been happy married to Jeremiah, but not deliriously happy like he is married to you. You two were made for each other!”

Draco sighed in relief and gave Lily a genuine smile. “Yeah, we were.” Not wanting to be apart from his husband for even a moment longer, Draco marched over to Harry, grabbed him by the arm, and dragged him off to a place where they could kiss in private.

“Draco...” Harry murmured with a shake of his head, knowing that Draco was very much jealous of Jeremiah. When they were alone in a shadow backstage, Harry kissed Draco to reassure him that there was no need to be jealous.

With a happy purr, Draco backed Harry into a wall and seized a greedy kiss. A few minutes later, they were both half naked and panting. “Draco, what if someone catches us?”

Draco scoffed. “So what? We're married; what are they going to do? Besides, we could always transfigure them into a toad.”

Harry laughed and then surrendered to Draco's demanding groping. “And feed them to Sunshine!”

“Exactly,” Draco agreed as he cast a spell to prepare Harry, and then helped him wrap his legs around Draco's waist.

“Mmm...” They both moaned as Draco sank into Harry.

“Ugh, _dads_!!!” James and Al blurted out in a humorous duet, horrified to witness such a scene. They both promptly slapped their hands over each other's eyes.

Harry simply laughed, but Draco growled. “Go away!”

With an aggravated sigh, the boys went to tell Lily and Scorpius not to bother looking for their dads for a while.

“Why do we always seem to have an audience?” Harry asked, still laughing.

“Who cares,” Draco stated with a shrug, focusing on what he was doing. With a moan, Harry decided that Draco had a very valid point and gave up trying to think about anything other than kissing his husband.

“I love you,” they whispered in unison just before their mouths sealed together and refused to be separated ever again.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Not that it really matters, but during the talk in which Harry breaks off his engagement to Jeremiah, I am more like Jeremiah than Harry in my beliefs. I just felt like it was important to tell you all that because if I wasn't so *very* into Drarry, I'd have had Harry agree with Jeremiah and live happily ever after, lol!


End file.
